About

about our guides.

Chris Scalley started River Through Atlanta Guide Service in 1994.

He was inspired by the thriving flyfishing guide industry in the Rocky Mountain West where he took his first drift boat trip down the Snake River in Jackson Hole WY in 1991. Chris approached Gary Merrimen at The Fish Hawk Fly Shop about his ambitions to start a guide Service on the river and Gary hired him as an employee in the shop. During this time there were rumblings of a DNR fishing regulation change on the Chattahoochee River below Buford Dam downstream to Peachtree Creek to a year-round trout season. In 1995 the Georgia DNR did away with a closed season on the River and we have not looked back! Because of our mild climate and our late trout spawn it was a perfect match for anglers.  This was one man show for 10years where Chris worked landscape and remodel construction during the winter to make ends meet. Slowly the business was built up over the years and weekends were so busy that in 1998 I hired my first guide and purchased an additional drift boat. Now we use dozens of boats and guides for trips going 7days a week 365 days a year if clients so desire. My Brother John and I grew up duck hunting locally in the Chattahoochee River Watershed on private leased wetlands. After spending many hours on the River with our clients the subject of hunting often came up while fishing.  In 2005 we began offering local Ga duck hunts and also regional Tennessee River flyway hunts just two hours west in Alabama. Let’s just say the TV show called Duck Dynasty has not hurt our business! This has been  a great source of revenue during the dead of winter in December and January when our fishing business slows down. Now we have upwards of 18 guides for both fishing and hunting trips.  Please check out our guide bios to meet the River Through Atlanta team.

Click on one of our guides today to learn more about who they are.

He was inspired by the thriving flyfishing guide industry in the Rocky Mountain West where he took his first drift boat trip down the Snake River in Jackson Hole WY in 1991. Chris approached Gary Merrimen at The Fish Hawk Fly Shop about his ambitions to start a guide Service on the river and Gary hired him as an employee in the shop. During this time there were rumblings of a DNR fishing regulation change on the Chattahoochee River below Buford Dam downstream to Peachtree Creek to a year-round trout season. In 1995 the Georgia DNR did away with a closed season on the River and we have not looked back! Because of our mild climate and our late trout spawn it was a perfect match for anglers.  In 1998 I hired my first guide and purchased an additional drift boat. Now we use dozens of boats and guides for trips going 7days a week 365 days a year if clients so desire. We have upwards of 18 guides for both fishing and hunting trips.  Please check out our guide bios to meet the River Through Atlanta team.

Chris Scalley

Chris grew up in Roswell, Georgia, doing the things he loves: hunting, fishing and trapping the Chattahoochee River and surrounding watersheds. Comparing and contrasting other fisheries throughout the world, Chris has fly fished New Zealand’s famed freestone waters of the South Island, Ireland’s productive loch angling, the Gmundner Traun tailwater of Austria, the Rocky Mountain Western U.S. to more domestic waters like the limestone-rich spring creeks of the State of Pennsylvania.

Although these distant waters are well worth the journey, Chris and many of his clients have always felt the ‘Hooch compares favorably with these “destination rivers” both from an angling and an aethsetic perpective. Field and Stream Magazine recognized Chris as a finalist in the Heroes of Conservation 2007 Awards Gala for efforts to protect the Chattahoochee sport fishery. He has guided drift boat trips under a National Park Service permit in the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area since 1994 and has maintained a commercial guide’s license under the Kentucky’s Department of Fish and Wildlife since 2000 leading Cumberland River tailwater float trip adventures.

Chris has a BA in History degree from Elon College, North Carolina; and, maintains CPR certification. Whether you are a beginner,novice or expert, Chris wants to help you rejuvinate your soul on the water!

 

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